Economics
Court Rulings Force Abe to Confront Voter Disparities
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Japanese court rulings invalidating part of December’s election because of the outsize weight of rural votes is putting pressure on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to rectify the situation with legislation.
The Hiroshima High Court yesterday for the first time declared an election invalid due to gerrymandering, voiding the result in two districts. Another court made a similar decision today. Four courts this month ruled the lower house contest, in which the value of a vote in the least populous district was worth 2.43 times that in the most populous one, unconstitutional while ratifying the results.